ON DEC. 1, 1932, the Berkeley Daily Gazette editorialized on local Depression relief.

“Alameda County is faced with a problem of major proportions; a problem which vitally concerns every resident; a problem which, if not solved, will result in untold privations for more than 52,000 people wholly dependent upon charity for food, clothing and shelter.”

The county was going to run out of money for poor relief by mid-December.

The county had met “demands” of $350,000 for poor relief in 1929-30, rising to “approximately $1,300,000 in 1931-32.”

An emergency bond election Dec. 20 would raise $3 million for relief.

“Unless this money is raised now by the only means at hand, the results in suffering to men, women and children and the possible violence that can come out of such a situation, would be infinitely greater than many times the cost of doing the human, brotherly act of caring for the needy.”

Local relief

Signs of need were visible everywhere.

On Wednesday, Nov. 30, 1932, the UC Glee Club held a benefit concert at Harmon Gymnasium followed by a dance in Hearst Gymnasium. “Many students are in dire need of assistance this year,” said the organizing committee. “A small loan would tide many of them over.”

And the Gazette ran this short and poignant item Nov. 28, 1932.

“The Berkeley Unemployment Association today issued an appeal for used furniture for a family which will be turned out into the street without so much as bedclothing on (Nov. 30). There are four children, all under the age of 12, in the family and the father, who was once an office manager in comfortable circumstances, has been unable to get any employment except county roadwork. Now that has been stopped for lack of county funds.

This family is a good American family, and the father is willing and anxious to do any kind of work. Persons having furniture are asked to call the Association.”

Thunder and rain

Seventy-five years ago, the weather was unsettled in Berkeley, the Gazette reported. More than half an inch of rain fell Nov. 29, 1932, and early on the morning of the 30th.

“Berkeley’s first real winter rain was brilliantly illuminated by lightning and accentuated with thunder shortly before 4 o’clock this morning. So loud was the thunder that many persons believed there had been a severe explosion.”

Shop early

On Nov. 26, 1932, the Gazette advised readers to start their Christmas shopping (back then, retailers waited until after Thanksgiving to start the Christmas season).

After alluding to holiday staples, “the Christmas tree in the parlor, the wreath in the front window, turkey on the table …” the Gazette noted: “Really, it is quite an undertaking in some families to choose and purchase Christmas gifts, and the task usually falls on mother.

“Therefore father can do his part toward easing the task for mother by sitting down with her right away and planning the program, estimating the costs and pungling up the necessary wherewithal.”

Stanford loss

After his team played Cal to a scoreless tie in the Big Game, then fell 7-0 to a Pitt team destined for the 1933 Rose Bowl, famed Stanford football coach Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner resigned Dec. 5, 1932, to take a job coaching at Temple.

His Stanford teams had a 72-13-11 record over nine years and went to the Rose Bowl three times.

UC book

On Nov. 28, 1932, the California Alumni Association issued “The Romance of the University of California,” written by executive secretary Robert Sibley. The publication detailed “contributions to the cultural and material welfare of the world…” including UC research accomplishments.

Hinks, Berkeley’s home-grown and home-owned department store, occupied the southern end of the Shattuck Hotel building where the Shattuck Cinemas are now located, and was gearing up for the Christmas shopping rush with a Dec. 2, 1932 advertisement.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.

At 6:03 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to reports of the robbery at the facility, 2301 Bancroft way, and learned that a man who snuck into the facility and began prowling through the building, taking cell phones and wallets from victims.

Investigators’ efforts to solve the case led to the arrests of Pablo Mendoza, 25, of Hayward, Brandon Follings, 26, of Oakland and Valeria Boden, 26, of Alameda, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.